Master's Theses

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Browsing Master's Theses by Author "Asmundson, Gordon"

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    Psychometric evaluation of the COVID stress scales in older adults and the impact of ageism and pain on COVID-related stress
    (Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina, 2024-08) Arsenault, Kylie Ann; Hadjistavropoulos, Thomas; Asmundson, Gordon; Yamamoto, Susan
    The literature has documented strong manifestations of ageism stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., social media posts suggesting that older adults’ deaths from COVID-19 are less tragic than younger individuals, beliefs that public health restrictions should only target older persons). Additionally, pain is highly prevalent among older adults and often limits mobility, which can exacerbate stress and pain severity during pandemics in which public health measures promote physical distancing or impose restrictions that reduce access to pain treatment. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, both ageism and pain have been identified as predictors of adverse health outcomes in older adults (e.g., stress, anxiety, functional impairment). However, the influence of ageism and pain on stress specifically within the context of COVID-19 had not been investigated among older adults. The COVID Stress Scales (CSS) is a widely used measure designed to measure multidimensional stress reactions related to the COVID-19 pandemic (i.e., danger and contamination fears; socioeconomic consequences; xenophobia; compulsive checking and reassurance seeking; traumatic stress symptoms). Though the CSS has been extensively validated across cultures, its psychometric properties had not been confirmed in an older adult sample. Moreover, item response theory (IRT) analysis was needed to examine its properties at the item level with older adults. This study was aimed at addressing these gaps by validating the CSS in older adults and examining how ageism and pain impact COVID-related stress responses measured by the CSS in this population. A population-representative sample of 486 Canadian and American older adults aged ≥65 years completed an online Qualtrics survey in January 2024. Participants completed measures of COVID-related stress, pain, ageism, and social desirability. As expected, results indicate that the CSS demonstrates robust psychometric properties and has a defensible five- and six-factor model structure, though its six-factor model provides the most optimal measurement of COVID-related stress in the older adult population. All items on the CSS were also found to adequately differentiate between older adults with lower and higher levels of COVID-related stress, though some items were identified as having lower overall discriminatory efficacy. Furthermore, as expected, the extent to which older adults reported experiencing ageism was positively associated with both the combined domains of COVID-related stress and each individual domain of the CSS. Pain was also associated with the combined domains of COVID-related stress and several individual CSS domains (i.e., fear of danger; fear of socioeconomic consequences; traumatic stress symptoms; compulsive checking and reassurance seeking). Findings from this investigation highlight factors that are related to increased pandemic-related stress in older adults. This evidence can guide future treatment strategies for healthcare providers working with the older adult population in response to future waves of COVID- 19, or during other pandemics or infectious outbreaks. Additionally, this investigation confirms that the CSS is a highly reliable and valid measure which can be used by clinicians or researchers in future studies to assess pandemic-related stress experienced by older adults within the context of COVID-19 or future pandemics and determine appropriate interventions. Keywords: ageism, COVID Stress Scales, older adults, pain, pandemic-related stress